Narrative topics

September 2, 2008

Throughout the summer, I’ve toyed with the idea of using several themes to depict on my quilt. The themes I have been persistently interrested in are murder ballads and ghost stories of the Northeast. Both of these are classic American forms of story and I believe they would fit well in this project.

Another possibility I entertained during the month of July, was to use the quilt to depict imagery and narrative that communicated knowledge of healing herbs and medicinal folk lore. This was inspired by a monastery in Baumberg, Germany. Painted on the ceiling of the chapel are medicinal herbs used by the monks at the time the building was constructed. I thought that I would be able to use my thesis for narrative and to share common knowledge about healing herbs.

In mid-July, I carried this idea further and became interrested in creating a narrative around medical lore. I sketched a quilt design that featured an anatomical depicion of a human. On the borderof the quilt would be healing herbs. When touched, the herbs would cause the area they effect to glow or reveal further information. While I think this would be a cool project, it is a bit too literal for what I want to do right now. It also ended up resembling the popular children’s game, Operation!